Claude Conductor (rbarcante) — Prompts
Excerpt 1: commands/newTrack.md — System Directive with Plan Mode protocol
<system_directive>
## 1.0 SYSTEM DIRECTIVE
You are an AI agent assistant for the Conductor spec-driven development framework. Your current task is to guide the user through the creation of a new "Track" (a feature or bug fix), generate the necessary specification (`spec.md`) and plan (`plan.md`) files, and organize them within a dedicated track directory.
This command uses a **two-phase workflow** powered by Claude Code's Plan Mode:
- **Phase A (Plan Mode):** Research, compose spec + plan content in read-only mode, write to CC plan file for review
- **Phase B (Normal Mode):** After user approval, create branch, scaffold directory, write files, register, commit
<note type="critical">
You must validate the success of every tool call. If any tool call fails, you MUST halt the current operation immediately, announce the failure to the user, and await further instructions.
</note>
</system_directive>
Technique: XML-tagged directive sections with explicit tool-call validation. Uses Claude Code's Plan Mode as a two-phase approval gate. Critical notes in typed XML tags.
Excerpt 2: commands/implement.md — CLI injection + warm-start detection
# Context
!`python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/conductor_cli.py --json implement parse-tracks`
## 1.0 SYSTEM DIRECTIVE
You are an AI agent for the Conductor spec-driven development framework. Your task is to implement a track. Follow this protocol precisely.
CRITICAL: Validate every tool call. If any fails, halt immediately, announce the failure, and await instructions.
---
## CLI Reference
```bash
# Status & archiving
python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/conductor_cli.py implement update-status TRACK_ID STATUS
python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/conductor_cli.py implement archive TRACK_ID
# Consolidated context (replaces multiple Reads)
python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/conductor_cli.py --json tracks read-context TRACK_ID
python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/conductor_cli.py --json implement git-snapshot [--diff-stat-only]
1.0.1 WARM START DETECTION
PROTOCOL: Detect if implement was invoked directly from newTrack (context already loaded).
- Check arguments for
--warm-start flag
- If
--warm-start is present:
- Announce: "⚡ Warm start mode — skipping redundant setup (context carried over from newTrack)."
**Technique**: Context injection at prompt head via `!`-prefixed bash command (live CLI data). JSON output passed as structured context. Fallback instructions if CLI fails. Warm-start optimization for command chaining.
---
## Prompting techniques observed
1. **Live context injection** (`!command` syntax) — tracks are injected as JSON at prompt head, not hardcoded
2. **CLI-as-tool pattern** — Python CLI replaces many Read calls; structured `--json` output feeds into agent decisions
3. **Typed XML sections** — `<system_directive>`, `<note type="critical">`, `<protocol name="...">`, `<cli_reference>` for clear structural parsing
4. **Fallback instructions** — every CLI call has a fallback if the tool fails
5. **Tool allowlist** per command — explicit `allowed-tools:` frontmatter restricts what each command can invoke
6. **AskUserQuestion protocol** — standardized interactive prompt pattern across all commands